Hello! Has anyone gone through a multisensory/dyslexia certification program that they found very helpful? I'm currently researching programs.
I'm starting Take Flight this summer. It's an intensive multi-year program, and I'll be certified as a CALT (certified academic language therapist) at the end of it. One of our interventionists just finished the whole process and just raved about it. My P is paying for me and one of the other interventionists to get trained. My main motivation for doing the program is to hopefully provide some opportunities to work outside of the public school system in the future, if I wanted to. You can supposedly make good money as a private therapist. I'm a little wary of that because the whole CALT thing isn't well known around here (it is in some other states), but I figured if the district was paying for it I should take the opportunity. If I were self-paying, I think I'd go for Wilson training because it's just more well known in my area, and a lot cheaper than what my district is paying for Take Flight.
Thank you for the response, waterfall! That's very interesting, I have not heard of the CALT program. Was this selected by your district? My district is paying for several of us as well. We can pick the program from a list. The issue is they all vary so much in cost and time, etc. and I really just want the program that will fit my schedule but also help my students in my work the most. My state has some upcoming changes for services and mandated testing for dyslexia. I jumped on the opportunity to get trained.
My school did select it. I wasn't given an option for programs. Are you a classroom teacher, a special education teacher, or a reading specialist? Since you have a choice in programs my advice would be to see what the parameters of the program are and how that fits into your current job. For example, many programs require you meet with small groups for 30-45 minutes, or sometimes even 60 minutes, per day. Is this a possibility in your current position? If not, I would do something more generic that's just going to get you information that you could use yourself within your current scheduling parameters to better meet student needs. If you can't implement the small group or 1:1 lessons required for Wilson with fidelity, for example, then it's not worth going through that intensive program. Years ago my P wanted me to get trained in Math Recovery. When I looked into it, the program required me to complete four daily 1:1 lessons with students. That would never work with my current schedule and time constraints, so we didn't end up doing it. Good thing I had insisted on checking into all of the requirements before she paid the many thousands of dollars required for the program! Take Flight does require 45 minute blocks with students, but this fits into our current intervention block schedule. I just let P know that while I would be able to do Take Flight with some grade level intervention groups in order to complete the required practicum, this wouldn't be a fit with every reading group I work with, and before she paid (again, many thousands of dollars) for this program, I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with that. She was, so we moved forward.
@waterfall, this is all great advice that I will consider. For now all plans for the multisensory licensure are on hold with my district - they are waiting to hear more from the state. I definitely would not be able to do more than 30-45 minutes per day. I am not a classroom teacher, I teach ELLs.
